By the way: “The Catholic Church does not now nor has it ever approved the sale of indulgences. This is to be distinguished from the undeniable fact that individual Catholics (perhaps the best known of them being the German Dominican Johann Tetzel [1465–1519]) did sell indulgences—but in doing so they acted contrary to explicit Church regulations. This practice is utterly opposed to the Catholic Church’s teaching on indulgences, and it cannot be regarded as a teaching or practice of the Church.”
@hearkat: indulgences. Essentially, as I understand it, in the Middle Ages they were a way for representatives of the Church to charge money in exchange for letting people off the hook for their sins or somebody else’s, such as a deceased relative. You could buy the way to heaven (or at least out of Purgatory) for yourself or someone else. It was a pretty profitable business. This was one of the big issues that sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517.
Thanks, @Jeruba. I never understood Catholicism and how people believe forgiveness can be granted by a human other than the one who was wronged. I suppose my Protestant upbringing taught me to challenge their hierarchy, rules, rituals, and excesses. But even as an agnostic non-theist it makes no sense to me.
Where will you sell them? You probably won’t get away with selling them on eBay. There was a Jewish guy who was selling places in Olam Haba (“the world to come” – heaven, basically) and eBay told him he had to stop.